Anti-aging Tips: How Smoking Ruins Your Skin

Smokers are already aware about the dangers of smoking. Even cigarette packs have a warning stating that cigarette is dangerous to one’s health. Cigarette smoking is bad for your lungs, heart, brain, and even your sex life. These ill effects of smoking should be enough to get every smoker start quitting right away.

But let’s admit it. If the ill effects of smoking were a bit more obvious, you would have said your last goodbye to this bad habit. So if you need a more obvious reason to quit this nasty habit, here’s one. Smoking actually ruins your appearance.

How Smoking Ruins Your Appearance

Smoking makes you look a lot older than your age. No matter how spot on your skin care and anti-aging regimen may be, smoking will definitely ruin your skin and negatively impact how you look. Here are several ways how smoking ruins your look.

Pesky bags under the eyes.
Whenever you did not get a good night’s sleep, it is most likely that your face will show it. Those pesky bags under your eyes are a tell-tale sign. If you are a smoker, you have a higher risk of feeling not rested even after a night’s sleep compared to those who don’t light up. In fact, according to a study made by Johns Hopkins, smokers are four times likely to report having this feeling of not rested after a night’s sleep than non-smokers.Why is this so? Possibly, nicotine plays a role. That nightly nicotine withdrawal can be responsible for making you toss and turn in the bed for a while. Lack of sleep or poor sleep quality unfortunately does not equate to pretty.

Higher risk of Psoriasis
To be clear, psoriasis is an auto-immune skin condition. It can show up even if you have never smoked a single cigarette in your entire life. However, if you do smoke, your risk for this skin condition goes up dramatically. A 2007 study found out that if you smoke a pack of cigarettes in a day for 10 years or less, your risk of psoriasis climbs up to 20%. Those who have been smoking a pack a day for 11-20 years have a 60% higher risk for psoriasis and for people who have been at this habit for more than 2 decades, their risk more than doubles. Pregnant women and young children should also be very careful about inhaling second hand smoke as it has been linked to a higher risk for psoriasis.

Early onset of skin aging and wrinkles
Yes, wrinkles are a sign of wisdom but not on a relatively young person who smokes. Signs of skin aging such as wrinkles and fine lines are sure to show up on a smoker’s skin. Experts are in agreement that smoking hastens the process of skin aging. On average, smokers look older by 1.4 years compared to those who do not light up and smoke. So why the wrinkly face from smoking? Nicotine dilates the blood vessels which in turn hampers the supply of oxygen and needed nutrients to keep the skin healthy and supple.

These are just a few ways on how smoking ruins your appearance. So if you want to avoid looking older than your age, quit this bad habit now.